Take a Break With Totem Destroyer 2 Game in Your Browser

02.05.2012
Totem Destroyer 2 is a fun free Flash game in which you must not destroy a totem. It's an interesting name, really: A bit like calling Tetris "Tower Builder." Totem Destroyer 2 does have a lot of destruction: Your totem lies atop a pile of assorted bricks, and you must destroy almost all bricks without having the totem fall down to the ground.

I say almost all bricks, because Totem Destroyer 2's black bricks are indestructible. You need to maneuver things so that your totem eventually lies on a black brick (and thus doesn't touch the ground), without having any other bricks left on the screen.

Totem Destroyer has several other types of bricks: The regular ones just disappear when you click on them, letting gravity take its course and collapsing your tower if you miscalculated. There are also bomb bricks which explode with great force, hurling nearby bricks (and your totem, potentially) all over the screen. There are anti-gravity bricks that rise up and float into the air as soon as they're not weighed down with other bricks, and matched bricks that must touch each other before they disappear.

This variety of bricks and the finicky in-game physics mean you will probably try each level more than once before passing. You must carefully consider the order with which you eliminate bricks, and some levels require split-second timing. For example, you click an exploding brick which throws your totem in the air, and while it's flying, you clear away two other bricks to make it land where you want it.

If you get stuck, you can watch video walkthroughs showing how each level is passed. The walkthroughs are hosted on-site, and play in a tiny, dated-looking Flash video player. There isn't an individual video for each level, so you will have to buffer the video and then scrub it to the point showing the level you're stuck on. If you've ever watched an Angry Birds level solution, you know that knowing what to do is only half the battle: After watching the walkthrough you still need to execute the solution properly, which can take several retries and lots of dexterity.

Totem Destroyer 2 is free of in-game banners and other annoyances, and ran smoothly when I tested it in a recent Google Chrome build. You can mute the sound by hitting M, and restart the current level by tapping R (or by dropping your totem on the ground, of course). All in all, it's a lovely physics game, and a great excuse to blow up virtual bricks.